Notes: Couldn't upload this earlier since I had a big test yesterday, and technically I should still be preparing for this seminar tomorrow (I have this 20-page paper waiting for me). So yeah, sorry if I haven't been able to reply these past few days. I'll get to it in a bit. Seems like I'm not getting a break this week either.

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(ARC)

To Passerby:

Ah, you also brightened up my day with this wonderful review (and it was such a crappy day, too). I really do enjoy writing this fic, so I'm glad others like it too. Thanks for taking your time to review kind stranger.

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Chapter 36: Occlumency 101

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Breakfast at the Great Hall the next morning was as normal as always, or well, as normal as it could be in a school for witches and wizards. Students ate their breakfast at one of the four house tables, most of them half-asleep since they had decided to stay up late last night. Teachers sat at the staff table, many of them in similar states to the students until they managed to get enough caffeine in their systems to go ahead and function properly throughout the day. Owls would also fly into the room to deliver the morning mail. In short, everything was as it was supposed to be.

Until the great double doors slammed open and a rather displeased High Inquisitor walked through them. Well displeased was an understatement, judging by the red color of Umbridge's face as she marched towards the staff table, she was actually furious. Her heels clicked noisily against the stone floors until the short woman stood directly in front of Dumbledore.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, I demand an explanation!" The woman said. Her high pitched yell rang painfully in his ears and made more than a few owls fly off. Even then, the entire hall went silent, their attention solely focused on what was unraveling before them.

"Whatever is the matter, Dolores?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling as always.

"I demand to know why that…that man is keeping a bloodthirsty dragon inside the castle!" Umbridge shrieked.

"A dragon?" Ron said in a low voice as his eyes widened and his face took on an ashen color that made his many freckles stand out. "Inside the school?!"

"Shhh." Hermione said, making Ron quiet down as she and many other students proceeded to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"If you are talking about Professor Kuja's familiar, then rest assured everything has been taken care of." Dumbledore said calmly, though it clearly did nothing to appease the enraged toad.

'A dragon as a familiar?!' Harry thought in alarm. On reflex he turned to look at Hermione for answers, only to see that she was as shocked as he was.

"Taken care of!?" Umbridge shrieked again. Harry winced and after looking to his right, he saw that Zidane was actually covering his ears with a pained grimace. They eyes locked for a moment with a look of sympathy before turning back to the spectacle. "Owning any kind of dragon, or dragon egg, is strictly forbidden by the Ministry of Magic. To have a teacher possess one of these highly dangerous creatures right inside this castle and be allowed to keep it is an insult to the Minister that I will not tolerate! I demand that-"

"Demand what, dear professor?" A silky voice called, followed by the sound of heels on stone as the new professor walked calmly down between the middle of the four tables towards the 'stage'. Just as the man passed by him, couldn't help noticing the small fraction-of-a-second look that he spared in the direction of Gryffindor table. After tracing the receiving end of the look, he found himself looking at Zidane, the blonde wearing a small scowl on his face.

'That was strange.' Harry thought, frowning as he wondered what warranted such an uncalled for reaction from the blonde. Might they have known each other, perhaps?

"YOU!" Umbridge said with fury as she pointed one fat, ring-covered finger at the pale man. "I will have you arrested!"

"Didn't you parents ever teach you that pointing is rude?" Professor Kuja replied, a small delicate smile on his face as he used a chiding tone that one would normally use on a small child. Though the man's attitude was very Slytherin-like, Harry couldn't help but enjoy every second of it. The look on the toad's face was simply priceless.

'Serves her right.' Harry though with a mental grin.

"Besides, I don't believe that you have that sort of authority. You see, you may not know this, but although I'm only here to teach and observe, I still serve as a high ranking envoy sent by the French Ministry, and therefore, I possess diplomatic immunity. In other words, your country's rules do not apply to me." The pale man said with a teasing undertone as he pulled out a scroll from the fold of his robe and showed it to Umbridge. "Furthermore, I am also an officially recognized dragon tamer, which grants me the privilege of legally owning a dragon as long as I prove that I am capable of controlling it. As long as Sylph does not go on a rampage and harm the students or staff without provocation, she is allowed to stay in Hogwarts and its grounds, so do not worry, Sylph is very well behaved."

With that, the pale man just ran a pale finger through his hair and the feathers adorning it, smiling as he turned around and walked away, leaving behind a red-looking Umbridge that had been left at a loss for words. It was almost as if her rage had somehow imploded, leaving the toad standing speechless like a burnt out fuse.

Though this encounter only brought several more questions and now spreading rumors about the new professor, Harry couldn't help but enjoy the moment for what it really signified. Umbridge had finally met her match.

The trio didn't see their new Professor until Double Potions, where they were surprised to find the man in the back of the classroom, humming slightly to himself while stirring a large bubbling cauldron. Held in one well-manicured hand was a small book that looked more like a small black dairy more than an actual book. In fact, it somewhat resembled Riddle's Dairy, save for the incomprehensible scribbles and symbols that he got a small peek of before having to take a seat in his usual spot once Snape entered the room, sneer in place and robes billowing dramatically behind him. When onyx eyes fixated themselves on his own emerald orbs, if only for a moment, he was reminded that today would be his first of many Occlumency lessons.

"Well, I'll be off and let you attend to your dearest students. Thanks for letting me use this little lab of yours, Severus. I'll be back in the afternoon once it simmers. I'll have those ingredients you wanted by then too." The man said, waving dismissively as he left the room without looking back. "Please make sure nobody ruins it."

To his surprise, Snape sneered, but didn't say anything to the man. Instead, he just went up to the front of the class and with a swish of his wand, the instructions for today's potion appeared on the board as always.

But the biggest surprise came after lunch. At this point, Harry felt like his life was running on a countdown until his meeting with Snape. The fact that many members of the DA continued to approach him to ask when their next meeting would be was quickly making Harry run out of his already strained patience. The whole reason Hermione had come up with the whole fake galleon idea was precisely so that they could minimize interaction between each other when Umbridge was on the prowl and therefore avoid looking suspicious.

'If one more person comes up to me again, I swear I'll-' Harry thought to himself before having his thoughts interrupted.

"Err, hello Harry." A voice said. Harry was just about to tell the person off, but stopped at the last moment when he realized that this person was none other than Cho Chang.

"Cho! Er, hi." Harry said rather awkwardly. He could already feel the blush rising to his cheeks.

"Had a good Christmas?" Cho asked.

"Yeah, not bad." Harry answered. "How about you?"

"Mine was pretty quiet." Cho said, looking rather embarrassed. "Erm…there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?"

"Oh right, yeah, I saw it earlier when we signed up for those extra lessons, you know, the ones with the new professor." Harry said sheepishly. He had barely caught a glimpse of it since the entire room was basically crowded around the board. "Are you signing up for those lessons?"

"Yeah, I think I will. It would be a good opportunity, you know, even though that new professor seems kind of strange." Cho said, blushing. "Anyways, about that trip…did you know it's on Valentine's Day?"

"Right." Harry said, rather surprised at Cho's insistence on that Hogsmeade trip. Why was she even mentioning this to him? Was she hinting at something? Perhaps he had missed the cue, and she was trying to tell him something that he just couldn't comprehend otherwise; almost like a code. The only sign of this was that small feeling at the back of his head that kept telling him that Cho wanted something from him. Why was it so hard to talk to girls? "Well, I suppose you -?"

"Only if you do." Cho said eagerly.

Harry blinked. He was about to ask Cho if she wanted to know when the next DA meeting was, but somehow her answer just didn't fit. Okay, so it's not that. "I – er –"

"Oh, it's okay if you don't." Cho said, looking quite mortified. "Don't worry. I-I'll see you around."

Cho walked away, leaving Harry standing dumbfounded, his mind working frantically to try and understand what just happened. After a few slow and painful seconds, his mind was finally able to reach a conclusion. Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense.

"CHO!" Harry cried out, hurrying after the black haired girl, who was just about half way gone at this point. The girl gave him a questioning look, which Harry took as cue to continue, despite the growing lump in his thoat. "Er, would you like come to Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's Day?"

"Ooooh yes!" The girl said, beaming at him while blushing a bright tomato-red color.

"R-right, so I guess I'll see you then." Harry said rather nervously as Cho nodded eagerly and then left his sight. It was then that he released a breath he didn't realize he had taken. 'I just asked Cho out. Maybe the rest of the day won't be that bad.'

He was wrong.

At six o'clock sharp he was already outside of Snape's office so as to avoid invoking the greasy-haired man's wrath, even though he already knew that this was Snape, so his wrath was pretty much inevitable. It was all really just a matter of time. That's why he also opted to knock politely on the door before entering.

The room itself was almost exactly what he had been expecting from the potion's master; particularly dark and creepy. He supposed that the many shelves lined up with glass jars, all of them containing some sort of thing suspended eerily in colored potions, really were the cause of it all. Besides Snape's ingredient cabinet, he was also surprised to see Dumbledore's Pensieve on the man's desk. He was so fixated on the shallow rune-engraved basin that he didn't notice Snape inside the room until his voice made him jump.

"Shut the door behind you, Potter." Snape's cold voice said, and Harry obediently did as told. When prompted, he also took a seat in front of the man.

"Well Potter, you know why you are here." Snape said. "The Headmaster has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope that you are more adept at it than Potions."

"Right." Harry said tersely.

According to Snape, Occlumency was a branch of magic that sealed the mind against intrusions, which was apparently what Legilimency was about. Despite what the gloomy professor said about it not being the equivalent of mind reading, Harry was hard pressed to believe otherwise. Perhaps it was a lot more complicated than that, and saying it in that way made it lose its charm, but weren't the results the same? Harry just couldn't understand what the big difference was. Maybe he would ask Hermione about it afterwards. At least she would be more willing to explain than Snape was.

But what worried Harry the most was that Snape had just pretty much confirmed his suspicions. His new link with Voldemort was a double edged sword that could easily turn on him if Voldemort became aware of it, which according to Snape's information, seemed to be the case. Though he could get glimpses of what Voldemort was seeing and what he was feeling, it appeared that the Dark Lord could easily do that and more to him. Indeed, there was a frightening chance that the man would try to take over him and/or drive him insane like the sadistic megalomaniac that he was.

Legilimency was a magic that generally required short distance and eye contact, yet unfortunately this seemed to be one of those rare exceptions that only ever seemed to apply to him. Voldemort could try to get into his mind at any given moment if he learned about the link. It had been acting up, even despite the many enchantments for protection in Hogwarts, and mostly when his mind was at its weakest and most defenseless state, in other words, when he slept. For that reason, he would be learning this magic in order to block Voldemort out.

"Take out your wand, Potter." Snape commanded after pulling out some silvery wisps from his head with his wand and placing them inside the Pensieve. Harry followed, although rather reluctantly, by getting to his feet and standing up with the desk between them. What would he need it for, unless Occlumency involved some kind of spell? He really wasn't clear on all of this. "You may use your wand in an attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of."

"And what exactly are you going to do?" Harry said, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively.

"I will attempt to penetrate your mind to see how well you resist." Snape said. "I have been told that you show an aptitude at resisting the Imperius curse. You will find that this is similar…now prepare yourself! Legilimens!"

Snape's spell hit faster than Harry could even begin to comprehend what was happening. As such, he had hardly any form of barrier that would help repel the attack. His vision swam and suddenly the office before him was replaced by bright flashing images.

He was five, watching his whale of a cousin ride his new bicycle …he was nine, and Aunt Marge's violent bulldog, Ripper, had chased him up a tree…he was in front of the Great Hall, the Sorting hat on his head while its voice told him he would do great in Slytherin…Hermione lay on a bed in the Hospital Wing, her face covered with black fur and her features now feline…a hundred Dementors were closing in by the lake, the air becoming frigid while the surface of the water froze instantly…Cho Chang was closing in on him under the mistletoe…

'No!' Harry protested as the scene played before him. 'You're not watching this, its private!'

He felt a sharp pain in his knee and the next thing he knew, he was back in Snape's office, only this time he had fallen to his knees, which explained the pain. Snape was standing before him, his wand lowered to rub his scorched wrist.

'Wait, scorched?' Harry thought.

"Did you mean to produce a stinging hex?" Snape asked coolly.

"No." Harry said rather bitterly as he regained his bearings.

"Did you see everything I saw?" Harry asked, not knowing if he wanted the answer.

"Flashes of it." Snape said, his lip curling. "To whom did the dog belong to?"

"My Aunt Marge." Harry muttered angrily.

Snape called his first attempt a 'not complete failure', which he supposed was as close to a complement as he was going to get. After some instructions from the greasy haired man, he was forced to try again, only this time things didn't seem to go nearly as well as the first time.

He saw the Hungarian Horntail rearing in front of him…his mother and father were waving at him from the other side of a mirror…Cedric Diggory was dead on the ground.

"NOOOO!" Harry cried out and once again found himself in the gloomy room. His head hurt terribly, almost as if it wanted to split itself open.

"Get up!" Snape said sharply. "Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort. You are allowing me to access those memories. You are giving me weapons to use against you!"

"I'm trying!" Harry shot back angrily despite the headache. He got up, his heart still thumping wildly in his chest. His mind still lingered on the image of Cedric's dead body in the graveyard. Snape looked rather pale and angry, but not nearly as angry as he was at the moment.

Snape insisted that his problem was his apparent lack of mental discipline. He could not clear his mind of all emotion to then create a suitable barrier. Maybe if the man actually told him how, then he wouldn't have this problem. How exactly was he supposed to empty his mind when there was a man pointing his wand at him not five feet away?

"Only weak fools wear their hearts for the world to see! They wallow in their sad memories, easily provoked because they cannot control their own emotions." Snape said sharply as he let another memory slip into the Pensieve. Harry couldn't help but feel his blood boil at the comment.

"I'm not weak and I am not a fool!" Harry shot back.

"Then prove it to me! Show me that you can empty your mind of all emotion!" Snape retorted before lifting his wand again. "Legilimens!"

He was watching Uncle Vernon hammering the mail slot shut…he was running along a windowless passage with Mr. Weasley…a red eye was burning in the stormy sky…they were getting closer and closer to the enigmatic black door at the end…he was flying through the air, a massive tree serving as a backdrop as he gleefully watched a powerful dragon blast a fleet of ships apart…he was almost at the door, but instead of going through it, Mr. Weasley led him off to the left, down a flight of stone steps.

"I KNOW! I KNOW!" Harry said triumphantly, before he was even aware that he had opened his mouth to speak. He was gasping on all fours again, his scar prickling unpleasantly on his head. He pushed himself up, only to see Snape looking at him, his eyes wide as if barely holding back his own turmoil of emotions, the most evident of them being shock.

"What was that, Potter?" Snape asked briskly, but Harry was too busy with his own thoughts to answer immediately. His own mind ignoring the bizarre images of his dream as it raced to remember where he had seen that door before.

'Of course, how could I be so daft? I walked right past it!' Harry berated himself. 'That door from my dreams…from the vision in which Mr. Weasley was attacked. I saw it on my way to my hearing on the twelfth of August. It was the corridor that according to Mr. Weasley, led to the Department of Mysteries! He was there the night that Voldemort's snake attacked him!'

"Well?" Snape asked sharply, his patience running dangerously thin.

"What's in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked, completely ignoring the man's previous question.

"What did you say?" Snape said, much to his amusement, he looked even more unnerved than before, and that truly was saying something.

"I asked what's in the Department of Mysteries, sir?" Harry asked again, stressing on the title.

"Why would you want to know such a thing?" Snape asked. "More importantly, what do you have to say about that memory?"

"I-It was part of the dream I had, right while I was having the vision of Mr. Weasley being attacked. Why would you like to know, sir?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing. "That corridor. It leads to the Department of Mysteries, doesn't it? I've been dreaming about it for months. I think Voldemort wants something from-"

"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" Snape snapped, his hand unconsciously clasping itself around his arm, right where he was sure that the Dark Mark was engraved. He had told Harry several times to avoid calling out Voldemort's name, but as Dumbledore always said, 'fearing the name only increases the fear for the thing itself, besides, Harry had never taken to calling him You-Know-Who and he wasn't going to start now.

The two males glared at each other, their contempt finally surfacing after their prolonged exposure to one another. Harry's scar was searing on his forehead, but at the moment he didn't care. Snape looked agitated, though it was clear to Harry that he was trying his best to regain his calm façade. When he spoke again, his tone almost managed to pass off as unconcerned.

"There are many things in the Department of Mysteries, Potter, few of which you'd understand and none of which concern you. Your main concern at the moment should be shielding your mind from the Dark Lord, and everything else that manages to slip past. Am I clear?" Snape said, his onyx eyes locked onto his emerald colored ones.

"Everything else? Do you mean that strange dream with the dragon?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowed. Snape just remained silent. After so long, he had just reached the conclusion that the dream with the dragon was all some bizarrely vivid dream. Perhaps it was a result of too much stress. It had only happened once, compared to the reoccurring dream with the dark corridor.

After several tense seconds in complete silence, Snape finally spoke again. "That was no dream, but as to how it got there, that is something I intent to find out."

"But then-" Harry began, but was quickly interrupted by the Potions Master.

"I want you back here same time on Wednesday. We will continue to work then." Snape said, walking towards the door and holding it open for him in a clear sign of dismissal. "You are to rid you mind of all emotion every night before sleep; empty it, make it blank and calm, do you understand? And be warned for I shall know if you haven't practiced."

"Right." Harry grumbled, before picking his things up and leaving, his hand clamped over his stinging scar.

He later found Ron and Hermione in the library. At first they were worried about his current disheveled state. He knew that his face was currently very pale, making his scar stand out. It was then that he told them what happened, all very quietly of course, since Madam Prince, the vulture-like librarian, was walking about.

"What is that anyways? I thought you were already done with your homework." Ron said.

"I am done with my homework Ronald." Hermione replied while slipping what appeared to be a small red leather-bound book closer to her. "This is just some extra research I´ve been-"

"Is that a dairy?" Ron cut her off while trying to hold off his laughter. "Never thought you´d be that kind of girl."

Madam Prince gave the redhead a sharp vulture-like glare which was promptly accompanied with a loud ´shhhh´ as she passed them.

"So how did it go?" Hermione whispered.

Harry gave a sigh before going over what happened with Snape. After all was said and done, Hermione became thoughtful for a moment before insisting that it all made sense. If the Order really was protecting whatever was inside the Department of Mysteries, then it made sense to have people keep guard at night. It explained what Mr. Weasley was doing there when he was attacked that night, and it also explained why Sturgis Podmore, one of Dumbledore's friends and also a member of the Order, was caught trying to break into the Ministry. He really wasn't breaking in as much as he was keeping watch. It was still strange that he had still gotten caught though, since he had supposedly been in possession of Moody's spare invisibility cloak.

Unfortunately as to what the weapon actually was, it was still a compete mystery. That particular Ministry department had been very aptly named, since nobody really knew what went on behind those doors. The very people that worked there had been called 'Unspeakables' since they simply weren't allowed to talk about their work. In reality it was the ideal place for a Ministry developed weapon to be stored.

Harry also told them about Snape's rather worrisome comment. Harry really couldn't stop thinking about it on his way over.

Snape said that the dream he had, the one about the dragon and the fleet, wasn't a dream at all. But if it wasn't a dream, then what else could it be? Some kind of vision of the future? There was recognition in the Potions Master's disturbed expression, so maybe it wasn't a vision. Then what other option was there? Was it perhaps some kind of memory? If that was the case, it had to be one of the most fantastical and far-fetched things he had ever seen.

Whatever it was, Snape knew something. That he was sure of. There was obviously something that the former Death Eater wasn't telling him.

"You said there was a giant tree and a dragon, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah." Harry said, thinking over what he had seen. "It was huge, even larger than Hogwarts. There was an ocean right next to it too, though everything else looked more like a desert."

Hermione looked thoughtful before leading the two males to a section of the library that they didn't usually visit. At first Harry thought Hermione would take them to the Herbology section, but instead most of the books surrounding them were about ancient runes and some other rather old looking tomes.

"If there really was a tree that large out there, then I would likely know. Even magical trees don't grow to that size." Hermione said as if reading his mind.

"It's real bloody scary how you keep doing that." Ron said, and the bushy haired girl ignored him.

"Then what did you bring us here for?" Harry asked.

"Well there aren't any giant trees around as far as we all know, but that doesn't mean that they haven't appeared anywhere else." Hermione said, pulling one large tome out and flipping its pages to a picture of a large tree. "There are many stories about giant trees out there. For example, Norse myths mention the Ygdrassil tree, while many other cultures make mention of a 'Tree of Life' or 'Cosmic Tree'. In almost all accounts the tree is said to be of enormous size."

"And what does this have to do with the dragon, or anything really?" Ron asked, Harry silently asked himself the same thing. "Since when do you believe in dream interpretation anyways?"

"Well there must have been a reason Professor Snape reacted the way he did." Hermione said. "He may not be the nicest person, but he doesn't seem like the superstitious type either, so there must be a valid reason for his reaction. Maybe it could tell us something valuable, like maybe what the weapon is."

"Good point." Harry admitted. As usual, Hermione was right.

"Now, I remembered two stories that involved a dragon and a tree. The first one is the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. According to the Greek myth, Jason had to slip past the dragon and take the fleece." Hermione explained. "The second story is more likely since it does involve a giant tree, Ygdrassil actually. They say that a dragon called 'Nidhogg' lays under its roots, constantly gnawing at them. Do you remember what the dragon looked like? Maybe it could give us a clue."

Hermione led them to another section of the library on magizoology, and then opened up an illustrated copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. When she reached the section about dragons, she began slowly flipping through each recognized breed in hopes that Harry would find the one he had seen there. Unfortunately, luck just wasn't on their side.

"It's no use, it's not here." Harry said, frustrated. It didn't help that his scar still hurt.

"What did it look like anyways?" Ron asked.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to picture the massive creature in his head. "Its wings were huge and dark purple with large knife-like talons. It also had two huge horns at the side of its head and armor like scales on its front that were a dark gold color. The rest of it was a dark grayish brown, almost black color."

"I've never heard of a dragon like that. The closest that I can think of is a Romanian Longhorn, or a Ukrainian Ironbelly, but the coloration is wrong. Maybe it's some kind of crossbreed." Hermione said. "Maybe we should ask Professor Kuja. He seems knowledgeable on this subject."

"Maybe, but I've never seen anything like it. It didn't even crawl on all fours. It practically stood on its hind legs." Harry said, shaking his head. "Maybe we are getting too into this. What if it really was all a dream? I mean, there was also an eye in the sky and some bizarre looking ships."

"Maybe you're right mate, besides, we should get going if we still want dinner." Ron said, thinking of food as always.

Hermione was reluctant to leave the library, but in the end, she relented.

Dinner was a quiet affair that night. It seemed as if everyone was thoroughly exhausted by the return to class. Most students were too busy eating to even talk. Some others were too distracted or tired to even listen.

"Zidane are you listening? I said that you're dripping pumpkin juice all over yourself." Neville said from a few seats away. Turning towards the odd trio of friends (since Luna was once again sitting at Gryffindor table) Harry noticed that Zidane was indeed too busy having what appeared to be a staring contest with the new professor, to notice that the goblet of pumpkin juice he held in his hand was tipped and dripping juice all over his lap.

"Shit!" The foreigner cursed, as he snapped out of it and reached for the napkins. Luckily Luna had already taken care of it with a quick 'scourgify'. From the staff table, he caught sight of the new professor giving the blonde a thoroughly amused smirk. After giving Hermione a quick glance, he saw their eyes meet momentarily. It appeared that she had noticed the odd exchange as well.

"What's gotten into you? You've been acting kind of off since last night. Are you feeling alright?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit tired. We did have Divination today and you know how that class makes me drowsy." Zidane said, taking a sip from his goblet.

"This has nothing to do with the new professor, does it?" Hermione asked out of the blue and Zidane choked on his drink. Neville quickly began patting him on the back to get the coughing to stop.

"No! What *cough* makes you *cough* think that?" The cyan-eyed blonde managed to choke out.

"Well you've been glaring at him for the past five minutes, actually." Hermione said. "Do you know him?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Zidane said, before getting up from the table. "Anyways, I think I'll hit the hay early today. See you guys later."

The blonde left the Great Hall, leaving the group behind in silence. After a while, it was Ron that broke the silence with an unbelieving scoff.

"Now you can't tell me that you bloody believed that, Neville." Ron said.

"Ron is actually right, Zidane does appear to be hiding something." Hermione said, chancing a small glance at the staff table where Professor Kuja was currently in an animate (and wholly one-sided) discussion with Snape. "Has he mentioned anything to you two? Perhaps if we ask Professor Kuja-"

"Hermione, listen. I really do appreciate the thought, but it's alright." Neville interrupted. "I know he is hiding something, but I don't want to butt into his own privacy like that."

"Zidane has too many Wrackspurts surrounding him, so he isn't thinking very clearly. He'll just tell us when he is ready." Luna said, and before Hermione could start arguing about the existence of such creatures, Neville quickly spoke.

"It's like Luna said, he'll just tell us when he is ready." Neville then continued. "He never forced me to tell him about my parents, so I won't force him to tell me if he doesn't want to."

Harry accepted what Neville said, knowing what it was like to be in that situation. It was like when he came back from the graveyard last year and was constantly asked about what happened. It wasn't something that was easy to talk about. Being pressured by his friends would have only driven him further away. He knew that he couldn't run away either, but the decision to finally talk had to be his own, not somebody else's.

'Still, it looks like Hermione hasn't given up yet.' Harry thought with a sigh. Once fixated on something, it was almost impossible for the bushy-haired girl to give it up. 'Good luck Zidane, you'll really need it.'

…

To be continued…

…

A/N: Kuja gets to keep his dragon because of course he does. Whether or not Kuja's documents are real is up to you. Umbridge isn't able to call his bluffs, anyways. Personally, I think Kuja's perfectly capable of getting away with fraud, or alternately he could have gotten the right documents through shifty means.

Now Snape is in on the memory, too. You could say he made a mistake by telling Harry it wasn't a dream, rather it was more like he was thinking out loud at the time.

See you guys next week! (If I manage to survive this week at any rate.)